Here’s the latest edition of my regular series of Quick and Easy Health, Physique Transformation and Sports Conditioning tips.
You can put these into action right now to Look, Feel, Move and Perform better.
These tips are organised into 3 different categories:
- General Health & Motivation
- Training (Fat Loss, Muscle Gain, Athleticism & Strength)
- Nutrition
Enjoy!
General Health & Motivation
‘Remember to have fun!‘
If you’re reading this, then you may fall into this category.
You take the time to educate yourself on training and nutrition – so much so that sometimes, you probably over-analyse everything you do health and fitness-wise.
I do this more often than I’d care to admit…
It’s great to stay hungry and continue to learn as you achieve your health and performance ambitions. Most of the time, to get results, the right thing to do is push on and be consistent with a plan you’ve set yourself.
But if you find yourself in a bit of a rut, or second-guessing your choices, it never hurts to think back to the days when you just started training. Maybe some of you had to fight against your will to train, but most of you probably did it because you – I dunno – actually liked it?!
If I scrutinised everything I do in my training, I’d come to the conclusion that some of my most successful times have been when about 10-20% of the stuff I do isn’t actually that ‘intelligent’ at all.
Then why would I do it? After all, aren’t I supposed to know better than most?
The truth is, sometimes we know too much for our good. We over-analyse and dissect every little thing we do in the gym.
Make sure every so often your training includes some things you just feel like doing.
Want to get under the bar with your pals and squat until you’re the last one standing? Had a rough day and want to unload on the boxing bag until you can’t see straight? Do it. You could do worse…
Train smart, safe, and have some FUN!
Training (Fat Loss, Muscle Gain, Athleticism & Strength)
‘Realise that not everything needs to be difficult‘
Throughout a strength-training program, you will have exercises that are meant to be loaded up to their limit, and others that are there purely to practice a position or motor control pattern.
As a client or athlete becomes more advanced, certain exercises will become less challenging. This doesn’t mean that you need to continually find ways to make a movement harder and harder. Too often, when we do so, we take away from the integrity of the movement.
Sure, you can load up your basic deadlift and squat patterns until the cows come home. But exercises like the rollout, prone bridge, or side plank will eventually reach a limit in ways that you can productively make them ‘harder’. This by no means renders them useless, though.
In fact, by loading them excessively, or adding an infinite amount of bells and whistles to them, you will mostly find ways to compensate and stray further from their intention. As they become easier to complete, it just changes their purpose from one of teaching the body, to one of reminding the body how to recruit properly.
Nutrition
‘Always cook more than you need’
To help my clients at RHP, I talk to them pretty regularly about nutrition. Often, I will review a 3-day food log for them. Here is a scenario I encounter A LOT.
- Breakfast: SUCKS
- Lunch: SUCKS
- Dinner: a solid, balanced dinner
This goes on for the next two days as well.
I get it. We all lead busy lives and dinner is the only time to actually cook something of quality.
It doesn’t have to be this way though. Here’s a simple strategy – one that everyone can benefit from.
Each time you cook, do so for 2-3 more people than you plan on serving that night.
For example, Jen and I tend to cook the bulk of our main meals during a couple of hours at weekends, so we don’t need to spend much time cooking in the week unless we want to.
If you don’t have the time (really?), or just don’t want to dedicate a set time to food preparation, then do it little by little. Double recipes, cook a few extra pieces of meat, whack on some extra veg, etc. As soon as you’re done cooking, store the extra in your fridge.
If you consistently do this, you should have a plethora of ready-to-go high quality meals, random healthy ingredients, and no reason to have two meals every day that suck anymore. Easy!
I hope you’ve enjoyed the latest edition of my regular series and found it useful.
Thanks for reading and please do share with anyone else you know will benefit!
Feel free to post some of your own ideas in the comments section below and on RHP’s Facebook or Twitter pages, too!
Rich
P.S. – to access every installment of my regular ‘Quick and Easy Ways to Look, Feel & Perform Better’ series, click here.
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